Cobras' Davids remains realistic ahead of Lions test

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Cape Town - Cape Cobras assistant coach Faiek Davids insists there are no thoughts whatsoever about the 4-Day Domestic Series title creeping into their camp ahead of their round five encounter against the Highveld Lions starting in Paarl on Monday.

The hosts are on a roll in the competition after four wins out of four thus far and can stretch their lead at the summit to close to 50 points with another victory against their closest rivals at Boland Park.

The first-class competition reaches the halfway stage after this next set of games, after which it will break for the Mzansi Super League.

Davids, though, is not prepared to jump the gun.

"We're very pleased with where we're at," he said. "We're obviously very confident as well.

"I think if you look back to last year, we couldn't bowl out teams even once, so to have done it twice by taking 20 wickets four times already, it's a huge credit to the bowling. They're bowling in good areas and obviously holding their ends nicely as well.

"We're rightly confident going into that fifth match, but we’re also not looking too far ahead because we ultimately know that we've only played four matches still.

"No one is even talking about championships or those sort of things, we just want to get ourselves into that position to be able to challenge for that championship come the end of the season."

In the latest round of games this past week, the Cobras showed incredible character to come back from a dire position of 45 for four in their first innings to record what was possibly their best win of the campaign against the Dolphins in Cape Town.

Davids continued: "We played from behind in the game if you remember were 40-odd for four. The way we responded thereafter was fantastic and it set the tone for the game. It was an excellent win and does now put us in a good position."

The Lions are second on the table and their closest challengers this season. The Cobras have already beaten them at the Wanderers, but Davids feels they will be a different proposition this time.

"We played well against them at the Wanderers, but now Rassie van der Dussen is back, Temba Bavuma is back and they're playing quite well at the moment," he added. "So, we know we’re going to be in for a good fight."

The Lions boss Enoch Nkwe, meanwhile, is adamant that the Cobras are beatable, despite their formidable form this term.

However, he feels the Gauteng-based side, who drew their latest game against the Titans this past week, will have to deliver their 'A-game' to have a chance in the Cape.

"Every opportunity we get to play against any team we want to win," he stated. "That's the reason why we play this game.

"So, we're just going to stick to our processes, we do understand that the Cobras are playing well at the moment and we respect that. At the end of the day, both teams will want to win heading into the break.

"We're expecting a tough game in their back yard. They are on a good run, but, at some point, they are bound to slip up. Hopefully it will be against us."

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